Category Patent Policy
The unintended effect of compulsory licenses
In view of the coronavirus pandemic, many countries and NGOs have suggested the use of compulsory licensing to increase the supply of coronavirus vaccines. Although such suggestions are no doubt well-intended, it is questionable whether such an approach is the…
Jonas Salk , inventor of the polio vaccine, “Could You Patent The Sun?”
How Patents and Orphan Drug Status may Impede the Accessibility of SARS-CoV-2 Treatments
Intellectual Property & Trust
TrustTalk, a sister blog by IPEG consultant Severin de Wit, as well as the TrustTalk podcast cover all aspects of trust. As of December 1, 2020, IPEG will keep its readers and followers updated on trust aspects that IPR practitioners…
The valuation of IP & Trade Secrets
Any business professor will tell you that the value of companies has been shifting markedly from tangible assets, “bricks and mortar”, to intangible assets like intellectual property (IP) in recent years. IP in its various forms is increasingly used as…
Workshop Trade Secrets Deep Dive September 7 (High Tech Campus Eindhoven)
A workshop Trade Secrets Deep Dive will be held on Friday September 7 in Eindhoven (High Tech Campus). Speakers from private practice and industry (see below) will cover all aspects of trade secrets, by many considered the most important intellectual…
Patenting Trends 2015
University Spin-offs and a Dutch Snafu
Recently the Dutch financial newspaper “Het Financiele Dagblad” spent an article (” (“spin-offs rely on deep pockets University holding“) on how (un)successful Dutch universities have been with their academic spin-offs, how many have been able to actually provide enough starting…
Award the Inventor, But How?
Most innovative businesses provide rewards and some form of recognition to inventors. There are two main reasons for having a reward and recognition program in place for inventors. Firstly in certain jurisdictions there are legal requirements to take into consideration,…
The International Licensing Platform Vegetable: a milestone
The International Licensing Platform Vegetable Association (ILP) was founded on 13 November 2014 with the aim of improving the worldwide access to and use of plant traits. The platform applies exclusively to vegetable varieties. On the same day, the background…
Will the Dutch Patent Act make it to 2110?
Death of a Ringtone
How Nokia’s smartphone software strategy failed and ultimately killed the brand. Much has been written about the ups and downs of the cellular / mobile phone industry over the past 25 years, and particularly the smartphone industry in more recent…
IP-centric businesses traded on public markets
IP-centric businesses whose shares trade on the public markets come in many shapes and sizes — some are better suited for return than others. Many of the most interesting IP-rich businesses, from an investor perspective, are publicly traded, thinly capitalized companies with experienced management.…
University Inventions – Europe Needs a Bayh-Dole Act
Technology transfer of new ideas and innovation from universities and research institutes into society is a major source of Europe’s “knowledge economy”. However, EU firms are struggling to better exploit public-funded research (like those from universities) and transform their findings…
Challenges in public and private domains will shape the Future of Intellectual Property
In the 2014, volume 3 edition of the “Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Management” an article is published by IPEG’s managing partner, Severin de Wit, called “Challenges in Public and Private Domains will shape the Future of Intellectual Property“.…
A Deputy Without a Head
By naming former Google IP Chief Michelle Lee Deputy Director the Obama administration has tipped the patent scales in favor of tech businesses with special interests. In the absence of a named Director for over a year, naming Michelle Lee…
The Impediments of the Cannots
Over the last couple of years we witnessed an increasing interest in patent assets as the IP asset class and what it means for innovation, for R&D, for IP professionals and the financial sector but also for those that treat…
There is no Wealthy Future of being an Inventor
Last week Douglas Engelbart died, 88 years old, the American who invented the computer mouse, or “X ,Y position indicator for a display system” as it was called in his 1970 patent. Like many other famous inventors he did not…
Invention harvesting
To invent means to produce or contrive something previously unknown by the use of ingenuity or imagination. An inventor is therefore someone who invents, someone who devises some new process, appliance, machine, or article. When a new product appears, the…